Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a method of displaying a procedure of performing maintenance on an image forming apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
It has been proposed to configure an image forming apparatus to be capable of playing a movie to present a maintenance procedure as to solving a paper jam, exchanging a toner cartridge, replenishing staples the like (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-282217). This technique is intended to make efficient use of high power of expression and a large amount of information provided by a movie thereby making it possible for a user to more easily perform maintenance on the image forming apparatus.
It is common to prepare one movie for each content of procedures of performing maintenance on the image forming apparatus. For example, in a case where the content is as to a solution to a paper jam, a single video is prepared which represents a sequence of operation procedures including an operation of opening a door disposed on a housing of the image forming apparatus to access a location in the image forming apparatus where the paper jam has occurred, an operation of removing the jammed paper, and an operation of closing the door.
When a user performs an operation on the image forming apparatus according to the maintenance procedure presented by the movie, the user is likely to perform the operation while often taking his/her eyes from the movie. For example, when the user performs an operation to remove jammed paper from a paper path, it is difficult to perform the operation while keeping watching the movie, and thus the user is likely to take his/her eyes off the movie during the operation of removing the jammed paper.
However, if the user has a trouble in performing the operation or it takes a rather long time to do something in the operation, the movie may proceeds to a next or further procedure regardless of user's intention, which may result in a difference between the procedure that the user is currently concerned with and the procedure that the movie is currently presenting. Even if the user tries to replay the movie to get information about the procedure that the user is currently concerned with, it may be difficult to determine the position from which to start replaying the movie.